I am thinking about starting some Peri teaching work at a school locally. The school says that there is a contract between the Music dept and the student, but not currently one with the school and the peri teacher. As I am being paid by the school, I am keen to get something in writing with the school so that the terms and condition for payment, missed lessons, sickness etc are clear from the beginning. Could anyone give any details of their contract with the schools if you have one?
Thanks!

The contract with both students and peri teachers basically say that fees are paid termly in advance, and at least 2 weeks notice is needed if you cancel just one lesson otherwise that lesson becomes forfeit. To terminate at least half a terms notice is needed.

Does this help?

I go into schools on the agreement that I'm an independent music teacher so therefore the contract and responsibility for payment etc falls between me and the parents. I am still teaching privately. Though I have had to provide a crb to work with the children alone in school.

I strongly recommend joining the ISM - they have example contracts for employment (as probably applies in this case) and for self-employment. They also will give legal advice over how to proceed if a school provides one.

I am interested in finding out what the deal is with payment from the school - how far in arrears are you paid? I have a watertight situation at my private teaching practice for dealing with lesson payments but I am not sure it would work out so well at a school.

The school is wrong. If you are providing a service (teaching music) and it is the school that is paying, then ther IS a contract between you, and any court would see it that way. They may not have a written document available, but that is just slackness on the school's part.

You NEED a contract, so that both you and the school are clear about your mutual obligations, and what redress you (or they) have if the other party fails to meet their obligations. If the school won't provide one you should provide your own and get the school to agree it.

It is not a solution for the school to claim that your contract(s) are with the students or their parents, because you are using the school premises, and the school is collecting the fees on your behalf, so even if you have a set of agreements with the parents, there still has to be a contract between you and the school that spells out what each of you is to do for the other.

Is the school paying you or the parents? I don't see why / how the school would pay for kids to learn an instrument or am I missing something?

I'd highly recommend the contract we have with the school where I teach which details that we get no holiday pay, no sick pay, no guarantee of work beyond the end of term and that they can fire us with a moment's notice.

I know of schools which do, in deprived areas where most of the kids wouldn't be able to afford lessons.

Pixie - The students pay the school, then they pay me minus their cut for room hire.
Am just reading the other answers now

This is probably the most common sort of individual school contract. I'm paid directly by the LEA in my schools, but I think that is less common in our patch. Read your contract carefully for small print, and be aware, as Pixie has already said, that you'll need a CRB for this school (which they'll help you out with).

And also, slightly off topic, especially as you're a pianist, have a look at the piano. It may be in 'November 5th' condition...

Hi Barry - Ah, should have thought to quiz you about this!
Well the CRB is sorted as I have one from a school that I volunteer at if they will accept that as it is dated Sept 2011.

So when you get paid, how much in arrears is it? And do you ever come up with the issue of teaching and then not being paid for those lessons because the student hasn't paid up?

And finally, what is the deal if you are off sick and can't teach? Is there something specified in your contract about this?

Thanks

Hi Lorraine,

At my school, we are paid by the school. I get paid at the end of the following month, i.e. I get paid at the end of April for the lessons I taught in March. We do get paid regardless of whether the student has paid up, the school chases them, and eventually stops their lessons if they continue to not pay.

Yes, this is true. It's what happened at the last school I taught, 2-3 years ago. In this case it was for kids who wanted to do gcse music.

Talk to MU/ISM - whichever you are a member of - and your accountant not only about the legal/contract side but also the tax implications as having a contract with a school can open up a bit of a self-employment can of worms if not set up properly from the start.

My understanding is that if you're paid through PAYE you count as employed for tax purposes, otherwise you're self-employed and obviously have to make your own arrangements to pay tax through self-assessment. Is that inaccurate?

Personally I don't understand why peris need an accountant unless their tax affairs are unusually complicated - it's so easy to fill in the Self Assessment form, especially on-line when it does all the calculations for you, and you need exactly the same information that otherwise you'd give to an accountant. Is there something I'm unaware of here? (again)

Yes that is accurate. Self-employment is quite simple as long as you don't just work for the same one establishment, then you should be on PAYE. I use an accountant as I have two jobs (both self-employed) plus I hate financial stuff, so it's ?100 well spent to get the accountant to sort it out!

I have all the info for the peri contract, pretty much based on the ISM contract so will see what the school say to it.

Not necessarily - I used to work solely for a music service whose teachers were all freelancers and therefore self-employed.

If the majority of your work is in one place, then technically you are an employee of that service. Here's the Government blurb. I am definitely self-employed according to this, but if I worked just for a music service, I would be towing the line and doing what they told me, which feels more like the big, bad world of employment!

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/moneytaxandben...gtax/dg_4015975

Very interesting!

My partner is self-employed. For two years he just worked for one company so that was his sole source of income. Technically he was an employee, but he didn't get any perks of employment (sick pay, holiday etc). The tax man would definitely have considered him an employee for this period of time. I am not sure how that effects your tax return though...

I only mention it because a peri collegue had a tax investigation a few years back and , although the peri had thought he had been doing everything correctly and in good faith, found he owed back tax and NI for peri jobs at schools where his contract was with the schools (about a day and a half of his work - two schools), where he was deemed to be 'employed' for tax purposes , but not for the 2 1/2 days he was peri-ing at schools where his contract was directly with the parents (three schools) and he was treated by the tax man as self-employed.
Very stressful all round and worth avoiding if possible.

It depends on a lot of factors: whether your contract (written or verbal) is with a school or with parents, who decides what hours you work, what the arrangements are for when you are ill, what notice is required by either party to terminate the agreement, whether you have sole discretion over what and how you teach, and so on. Plenty of schools and music services operate questionable 'self-employed' setups.

Part of me thinks it might be best avoided

Working in schools I think is very enjoyable : just make sure you keep tabs on everything!

When I first started teaching one of my teachers advised 'Don't work in schools unless you have to'.

If everyone took that approach there would be a lot of children who would not get the opportunity to learn music

Absolutely. Working in schools can be really hard work, but it's also got great benefits: when setting out as an inexperienced teacher, it was tremendously useful to see other peris and other music teachers in action on a regular basis, and to have opportunities to discuss things. It also can be much easier to get pupils involved in ensemble activites, and to cultivate a 'community' feel to lessons.

That's pretty strange. As I understand it, the "employer" in this case would be the one liable for the NI contributions. Also, if he had been paying income tax on all his earnings as self-employed throughout that time, he should not have been liable for that, either. I suspect we are missing some important details here.

The situation is not quite the same with piano which is what I started out teaching.
I think the downsides mentioned were lack of continuity because of all the school holidays and the loss of ground in holidays where it's seen as an in school activity only and lack of contact with parents and the potential associated problems (not buying music, hard to pass on advice about practice, and general idea that it's something that happens in school so more chance of no practice). Also what seem to be common problem with suitable teaching space.
I can see how the teaching space could be a pain... I'm a Volunteer Reading Helper and sometimes find it hard to fine space in an open area, let alone a room where the sound won't bother others.

Fair point!

I agree with most of that, with the added reminder that often the difficulties with support at home can be that the parents simply have no idea how to support the pupils, or that there isn't sufficient space in an overcrowded house for a 'practice area', etc. In other words, those pupils who probably wouldn't be getting the chance at all if it were not at school. ("I used to practice in my bedroom, but now my new sister's cot is taking up all the space" is one line I remember well.)

Regarding suitable teaching space, most of my peri work was fortunately in schools which were generally co-operative, and I had the backing of a music service who would fight battles on our behalf if necessary